


A Little Bit Closer

by poeticname



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-17
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-12 02:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/806214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poeticname/pseuds/poeticname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eiji realizes something on the subject of Oishi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Bit Closer

On Wednesdays, Oishi and Eiji always walked home together.

It wasn't something they had consciously decided on at first. Sometime during first year, Eiji realized they had left school together on Wednesday for five weeks in a row, and Oishi said: "Now that you've pointed it out, it feels like we have to do it." Eiji laughed, and that was that. A Golden Pair tradition was born.

That particular Wednesday was no different. The pair walked out of the gates of Seishun Gakuen, their footsteps naturally in sync as they chatted.

"Man, Inui's exercizes were brutal today," Eiji complained. "I think my arms will be extra sore for weeks now."

"Well, it just means you're getting stronger, doesn't it?" Oishi pointed out, in a serious effort to be encouraging.

Eiji elbowed his side as a reply, "I know that, geez, it was just some harmless complaining. No need to take it so seriously." 

Oishi elbowed him back gently, looking a little embarassed, "I wasn't all that serious that time." 

Denial springs eternal, and Eiji grinned at him playfully, "Yeah you were!"

"No I was no-" Oishi looked away pointedly. "I am not getting into one of those silly fights with you."

Eiji laughed, and Oishi looked back to smile fondly at him. 

Eiji liked that about Oishi, how easy it was to make him smile. It had taken a while in the beginning, drawing those unguarded expressions out of him, but Eiji had learned the art well. Nowadays, he could make Oishi's seriousness take a small break the moment they started spending time together.

It was a nice feeling, being the source of those smiles.

Thinking about all that, Eiji felt a surge of affection for his doubles partner, so he stuck closer to Oishi's side while they walked. He could swear he felt Oishi lean a bit closer too, and excitement bubbled in his stomach. 

"Hey," he blurted out, "do you want to go check out a pet store or something?" 

"I'd love to," Oishi said, "but do you have homework?"

Eiji scrunched up his face while he thought about it. He couldn't really remember, so there must not be anything important.

"Not too much!" he replied eventually, hoping his grin was convincing.

Oishi did not look convinced, but he didn't press the issue. 

"Well, we won't spend too much time out then," he concluded. "We should probably separate in about an hour if we both want to get home with time to spare."

"Aw, only an hour?" Eiji pouted. Time with Oishi sounded like the best thing in the world right now, and giving it up to do some homework he may not even have sounded like the worst.

Oishi patted him on the back, smiling encouragingly, "Let's make the best of our time together then."

Eiji perked up immediately, seeing Oishi look happy, and he dramatically pointed down the road.

"Alright then, race you to the pet store!"

"Huh? Eiji, we just had practi-"

He was already running, carried by his newfound energy, and Oishi ran behind him, too focused on catching up to sigh.

\---

Their favourite pet store to browse was a small establishment with an equally small selection. The pair would say it was their favourite because the staff were friendly towards their loitering and the animals were well-socialized, but the reality was that it was also very close to the school. As athletic teens it took them only five minutes to run there.

They entered the store while Eiji teased Oishi about how he totally won that race, and Hana, the usual cashier, greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, Oishi-kun, Kikumaru-kun," she gestured to the fish section. "We got some new species of fish in, the kind you mentioned last time, Oishi-kun. The owner was super impressed you knew so much and got interested."

"Thank you, Hana-san." he looked quite pleased with the compliment. Eiji could tell he was prepared to chat more.

But Eiji wanted the most time possible with his best friend, so he tugged on Oishi's arm and gestured towards the fish section, a dimly lit corner of the store that the pair was quite familiar with. 

Oishi gave a small apologetic bow to Hana as he let himself get dragged away.

As soon as they entered the darker area, Oishi moved with purpose to a tank that had been empty last time they visited and peered in curiously.

Eiji smiled, it sure was nice to see Oishi excited, and he followed cheerfully. He stopped at the tank when Oishi did and looked over his shoulder.

He had to admit they were very nice-looking fish. Since they were a brand new addition, there was a huge group of them, swimming together through the aquarium's decorations as their scales glistened with different sparkles of light. For a moment, Eiji was hypnotized.

He tore himself away for a second to look at Oishi, who was even more spellbound than he was. It was probably the way the light from the aquarium was coming at him, but it almost looked like his eyes were sparkling. 

Eiji almost giggled from how different it was, seeing his ever-serious partner excited like this, but he held back. It would embarrass Oishi, and he wasn't even at maximum enthusiasm yet.

He'd need a little prodding to get there, after all.

"So," Eiji tried his best not to grin, "care to share all that stuff you said that impressed the owner last time?"

"Huh?" he turned to Eiji, mildly confused. "You were there, Eiji," he looked at Eiji with suspicion. "You were listening, weren't you?"

"Nope!" Eiji lied easily. He had listened, but Oishi was definitely going to be fixated on these little guys today, and a repeat spiel was a small price to pay for Oishi's added enthusiasm.

"Well, alright, but be sure to listen this time," he looked pleased with himself as he began, promptly forgetting that Eiji supposedly hadn't listened before. "As you can read on the sign, they're called black-axil chromis. They're found primarily in the Indo-Pacific-"

Eiji stopped listening closely at that point. Though Oishi's knowledge was always impressive, he _had_ heard this speech already. He opted to simply watch Oishi instead.

Oishi was truly excited. He spoke a little faster than usual as he watched the fish swim around, probably trying to go into Serious Explanation Mode, but he wasn't succeeding. He just couldn't get the "serious" part down completely. He kept on laughing a little in the middle of his talking, and even in the dark, Eiji could see the outline of the goofy grin on his face. The overall effect was more cute than anything else. 

Eiji's earlier surge of affection was back. He snuggled right up to Oishi's side, resting his head on Oishi's shoulder and feeling their hands brush against each other.

Suddenly, Oishi stopped talking.

Eiji pulled back a little and looked up at him curiously, "Done already?"

"N-no," a stutter, something was definitely wrong here. "I was in the middle of explaining their mating habits." Oishi looked down at the floor, probably out of embarrassment.

"Well, go on then!" Eiji encouraged.

Oishi, strangely, looked away from both Eiji and the fish tank, "Well, alright then, I think where I left off at their tendency to-"

The explanation was even less important than before, in the face of Oishi's weird discomfort. It made Eiji want to pout a little. He had been doing so well with getting Oishi used to the constant hugs and high fives.

Then again, Eiji supposed, cuddling wasn't a hug or high five. Cuddling, he now realized, could have a few more romantic connotations to it. 

Plus, they had been really close to holding hands for a second. In a dark, secluded corner where no one else could see them.

That thought made Eiji feel nervous as well.

He examined Oishi again, who was back to staring at the fish tank. Though he had resumed happily explaining, he didn't seem to be fully recovered. His smile looked a little smaller and he was fiddling with his shirt sleeve, a nervous habit of his. 

Eiji wished it was better lit in the fish section. Even with his excellent vision, it was so dark that the details of Oishi's face were hard to make out. If he could see some detail, surely he could figure out exactly what Oishi was thinking.

Maybe, Eiji thought, he'd have to rely on something other than his sight. 

He apologized profusely to Oishi in his mind, and grabbed Oishi's wrist.

"E-Eiji?" Oishi stuttered, his explanation halted, and even in the dim light, Eiji saw his face turn flushed and felt the pulse in his wrist quicken immediately.

Eiji quickly pulled his hand away, up to his chest where his own heartbeat was speeding up at the thought that just occurred to him.

Blushing and being nervous at contact like that were two signs of having a crush. 

Oishi might have a crush on him. 

That thought spread the nervousness and blush to him too.

Oishi looked confused, staring at Eiji intently. Eiji was going to have to get over himself to cover up the wrist grab quickly.

"I'm hungry, walk me to the convenience store!"

Apparently a "time to go" gesture was a decent excuse, because Oishi relaxed. 

"Alright then, let's do that." Oishi smiled at Eiji, but now that simple gesture made Eiji a bit nervous.

That smile might be because Oishi liked him. In a romantic way. This train of thought was new to Eiji, and it made his stomach do flips in a way that he didn't quite recognize.

They exited the store quietly with a small wave to Hana. Eiji walked a bit slower than usual once they were outside, staring at the sidewalk while his mind raced around. 

Oishi might like him. Might really really like him and Eiji had never thought about this before. It did seem likely, with the way Oishi acted around him and all. How long had it been since this started? How come Eiji had never realized this before? Oishi's blushing was pretty obvious. Now that he thought about it, he had probably just written it off as Oishi being Oishi. He did blush pretty easily after all, though most often around Eiji...

Eiji ended up thinking so much he stopped walking entirely.

Oishi stopped right after he did, looking over at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, clearly worried.

Eiji decided that he couldn't possibly worry Oishi now. They still had time together so feelings would have to wait. He shook his head to clear it, then looked up and gave Oishi his best reassuring grin, "I'm a-okay, partner!"

Oishi smiled back yet again. Eiji thought of his possible crush again, and tried to force the thought out of his head.

Maybe feelings couldn't wait exactly, but he wouldn't let that stop them from hanging out.

\---

The moment Oishi and Eiji separated, waving to each other as they walked to their respective homes, Eiji breathed a small sigh of relief.

He thought he had done alright at ignoring his suspicions; after the initial thought had worn off a little he had been able to joke and hang off of Oishi like usual.

Though he did keep looking for signs of a crush. 

A fond smile here, a compliment he wouldn't give anybody else there, and one time Eiji noticed he was blushing again, when Eiji stuck two straws into the same bottle of pop.

Now, with time to think on his own, Eiji was becoming less sure of his conclusion. Sure, Oishi was embarrassed at contact. He wasn't a very affectionate person, after all. And of course he acted differently around Eiji than anybody else. They were the closest of friends, a National level doubles pair, there was nobody else to act like that with.

The more he thought about it, the more Eiji couldn't figure out anything, and the more he thought he might need someone else's input.

He entered his house with a loud "I'm home!", asked when dinner was, and then dashed up the stairs to his room, typing up a text message before he even took off his school uniform's jacket.

"To: Fuji  
Subject: Help me!

ummmm hey if ur not busy could u give me a call? i need someone to help me sort out serious feelings stuff (=;ェ;=)"

Just as Eiji closed the door of his room and tossed his jacket on the bed, the familiar sound of his j-pop ringtone came out of his pocket.

"Hello!" Eiji answered as he sat down on his bed. "You weren't busy?"

"I was just tending to my cacti," Fuji's voice came through the speaker. "I assumed that if you weren't talking to Oishi about it, it was more important than that."

Eiji supposed it best to get down to business, regardless of embarrassment levels, "Well, it's kinda about Oishi, actually." 

"Oh?" Fuji sounded very interested. 

"Um, this is gonna sound silly but..." Eiji trailed off, getting more embarrassed as he thought about what he had to say.

"Yes?" Fuji prompted.

"I kinda think that Oishi has a crush on me do you think I'm right or wrong?" 

Eiji spat that out in one breath, and he could have sworn he heard Fuji giggle on the other side of the line.

"Well," Fuji's voice was even now regardless of the possible giggle, "let's start with what you think, right?"

"You mean, why I think that he likes me?"

"There's no real use in dwelling on that, Eiji. I'm asking how you yourself feel about the fact that your doubles partner may have a crush on you."

Eiji flopped backwards onto the bed, sighing, "I haven't really thought about it."

"Think about it now, then."

Eiji frowned and hummed, thinking about it seriously. 

It had surprised him, for sure. He didn't really think about any kind of romance on a regular basis, much less among guys, so he hadn't expected anything like that. But being surprised wasn't much to go on, feelings-wise. 

He supposed he was flattered too? Oishi had never expressed interest in anybody that way before. That must make Eiji super duper special, and when Eiji felt his insides lift up a little at that thought, he decided he was definitely flattered.

"Eiji, I've been hearing nothing but "hmmmmmm" from your end for a few minutes now."

Fuji's voice jolted Eiji out of his thoughts.

"All I've got so far is that I'm flattered he likes me that much!" Eiji said with conviction.

"How flattered are you, exactly?" 

"Umm, it makes my stomach feel all fluttery and happy, I guess?" he started fiddling with a nearby pillow. "Why do you need to know?"

"Eiji," Fuji sounded very amused, "that definitely sounds like you like him back."

Eiji sat right up, blood rushing to his cheeks. 

"Eh?! How can I like him back if I've never thought of him that way before?" his heartbeat sped up suddenly at the thought, and he had to hold himself back from yelling in his surprise and embarrassment.

"If it's you, it's definitely possible," Eiji was about to object, but Fuji didn't let up. "Moving on, if Oishi ever got the nerve to ask you out, would you agree to do so?"

Eiji took a breath to calm himself, laid down, and started humming in thought again.

"Please think out loud this time. Humming is boring for me, you know."

Eiji supposed he owed Fuji that much, "Well, uh, I think that before I realized he might like me, I would've thought it was a joke and said no for sure..."

"And now?"

Eiji's heart rate sped up even more when he thought of the answer.

"Yes," he sat up intently. "Yes I would."

"There's your solution!" Fuji declared happily.

"Huh?" Eiji frowned in confusion even though Fuji couldn't see him.

"You're actually quite receptive to the idea of dating Oishi, so why don't you give it a try?"

"Wasn't this about whether he actually liked me or not?" Eiji wailed, embarrassed from his own mental images of actually dating Oishi. This was really kind of overwhelming to think about all of a sudden.

"Eiji, you're a great friend but you're kind of dense."

Eiji almost dropped the phone when he realized what Fuji was implying.

"You mean you know he does?!" Eiji really hoped none of his siblings walked in and saw him blushing this intensely.

"According to Inui, he has liked you since approximately winter of first year."

"Seriously?!" Eiji wanted to hit himself for not noticing. He wasn't the best with romance, but not realizing his best friend liked him for years was a bit much. 

"The way Inui worded it was 'exhibited symptoms of a romantic attraction towards Kikumaru' but yes, Oishi is pretty obvious about it. Most of us are aware by now."

"Who doesn't know?" 

"Among the regulars, only Echizen and Tezuka."

Eiji groaned so loudly he could probably be heard downstairs.

"I really am dense, aren't I?" he was almost ready to give up.

"If it makes you feel any better, when Ryuuzaki-sensei asked whether Oishi liked you that way we convinced her that nothing was going on."

"My sports coach thought my best friend liked me before I did," Eiji really could not believe this. "I'm giving up Fujiko. Goodbye forever."

Eiji thought that was a good signal to the end of the conversation, but before he hung up, Fuji got the last word.

"Since Oishi hasn't made a move in two whole years, I'd highly recommend you go for it yourself."

Eiji hesitated for a second before pushing "end call."

He laid back down.

There was still a lot of thinking to do, after all.

\---

Eiji came away from that night with four hours less sleep than usual, every single female in his family asking if he had girl problems, Oishi's daily "Have you done your homework yet?" text unanswered due to nervousness, and his mind made up.

It had been a long process, but he eventually decided that as usual, Fuji was right. 

In the end, he really did like Oishi. When Eiji thought about dating him, he got a bit excited. He wondered what it would be like, how cute Oishi's reactions would be, how much affection Oishi would let him get away with, and whether Oishi would be more affectionate himself. There was this pleasant feeling that started in his stomach and shot up right to his head when he thought about it, so he made up his mind.

He, Kikumaru Eiji, was going to ask his doubles partner, Oishi Shuuichirou, out on a date.

There was morning practice the day after Eiji made his decision. He walked through the school gates with his fists clenched in determination.

His plan was as follows: try to not act like he just realized Oishi liked him, also try not to act like he had a crush on Oishi, wait for a moment when they were alone, and then as casually as possible, ask Oishi out on a date!

It wasn't all that detailed as far as plans go, but it left room for leeway and accomplished what needed to be done. It suited Eiji just fine.

After going over the plan in his mind for the thousandth time, Eiji crossed the courtyard and headed towards the tennis courts, trying to push it out of his mind so he could focus on practice and avoid laps.

When Eiji reached the clubroom, he flung open the door and yelled the obligatory "good morning" with gusto.

The other members who were still changing answered "good morning" with no energy whatsoever.

Eiji wasn't bothered by their lack of enthusiasm today, still trying to focus on tennis and not Oishi. He walked over to his locker to find Fuji there, smiling as serenely as ever.

"Good morning, Eiji," he greeted while folding his uniform. "I see you're full of energy today."

"You bet!" Eiji replied loudly, starting to change immediately. "I lost some sleep last night, but I feel great."

Eiji leaned lose to Fuji and lowered his voice for the next part. "After talking to you, I thought about it some more and decided what to do."

"Oh?" Fuji's smile grew the littlest bit wider. "What did you decide in the end?"

Eiji grinned back, "See, I decided that I'm gonna-"

"Practice starts in a few minutes!" Oishi announced from the doorway, startling Eiji into jumping. "Everybody who isn't finished changing yet, please finish quickly and come to the courts as soon as possible."

Fuji chuckled a little and started walking away, "I suppose I'll find out later. See you then, Eiji."

As Eiji watched Fuji leave, Oishi walked up to him.

"Oh, you're here!" Oishi looked quite relieved. "I was worried you'd be late again."

Eiji faked looking scandalized, "Me? Late? Never!"

Oishi laughed a little at the display, making Eiji grin, "Yes, yes, of course. You're never late, it would be ridiculous to think otherwise."

"See, you get it," Eiji joked, sliding out of his shirt and noticing that Oishi looked away when he did so. "I'll be out of here once I finish changing."

"Yeah, okay." Oishi said, backing up a bit slowly and continuing not to look at the still shirtless Eiji. "I have to go talk to Tezuka, bye."

He quickly ended the conversation like that, almost bolting around the corner.

Eiji really could not believe he hadn't noticed this before, and slid on his shirt while whistling. His prospects for a date were really quite good, he thought, then slapped his cheeks to stop thinking about it. Romance time was over, tennis time started now.

Hopefully acting like usual wouldn't be too hard.

\---

It turned out the crush wasn't what did Eiji in, it was the lack of sleep.

Morning practice wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was mostly an exercize in acting less tired than everybody else so they got assigned laps instead until you woke up properly and didn't have to pretend you had energy. 

The problem was that it was the other way around for Eiji; he felt fine in the beginning, but he started getting sleepy again before Tezuka had even finished announcing the schedule for the morning.

Only a few minutes into practice he earned himself 10 laps for yawning excessively. When they started drills his swing was obviously sloppy. Then he earned himself another 30 laps for bumping into Tezuka in the middle of talking to the coach. To top it all off, before Inui's training even started he offered Eiji some juice to wake him up, which Eiji denied as quickly as possible.

Oishi stared at him with concern throughout all of it. 

After earning himself another 45 laps for being unable to respond to Tezuka's attention check, Eiji started feeling guilty about Oishi's blatant worry. 

He hadn't even meant to lose sleep this time, he thought as he ran his laps. His thinking time being too long was an accident, but he supposed that didn't mean it wasn't his fault. But not thinking about it wasn't an option at that point, he couldn't afford to be awkward around Oishi. It would mess up their game, and tennis was the priority in the end. So he had to figure out his feelings! Losing sleep had been necessary!

Eiji would have sighed if he wasn't running. He wished thinking didn't require being awake, then he wouldn't have lost sleep and everything would be great. He would have figured out his feelings and made a plan and felt perfectly rested too. Yeah, that would have been ni-

In the middle of that thought, Eiji tripped and fell face-first.

Although he was on the other side of the courts before, Oishi was by Eiji's side within seconds of the fall.

"Are you alright?" he asked, the very portait of worry.

"I think I scraped my knee..." Eiji said, cringing as the scratch began to sting.

Oishi helped him to his feet and looked over at Tezuka, "I'll go check it out. Resume practice without us."

Tezuka nodded, then looked away from the pair to bark out his next set of orders. 

Oishi tried to give Eiji a reassuring grin and started walking off the courts, gesturing for Eiji to follow.

Eiji followed silently, privately sulking. Dumb lack of sleep.

Oishi lead Eiji away from the tennis courts, to one of the more secluded benches on school grounds, and gestured for Eiji to sit down. He had a first aid kit with him. Eiji had been so out of it that he hadn't even noticed Oishi pick it up.

But Eiji was thinking enough to realize that Oishi was planning to look at his knee and then have a serious talk.

Eiji realized that maybe his first alone time with Oishi today would not be a good moment to ask him out after all. He mentally cursed himself for messing up his own ridiculously simple plan. 

Oishi set to work quietly, opening the first aid box without a word, only asking the requisite questions about how much it hurt while he worked. Eiji continued his sulking, and answered Oishi's questions with muttering. 

The scrape itself wasn't a big deal in the end, just a shallow scratch. When Oishi was done bandaging it, he sat down beside Eiji without speaking, his mouth set in a frown and his hands balled into fists. 

Eiji could tell what was coming next. Oishi was going to stumble over some solemn speech where he guessed at what was wrong until Eiji broke down and told him.

Eiji never liked those, so he decided to spare him the trouble.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep very well last night," Eiji spoke, startling Oishi out of his thoughts. "I probably should have mentioned it, but I felt fine when I got here."

Oishi let out a sigh of relief, letting his entire posture relax as he did. 

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought it was something more serious." he scratched at the back of his neck a little sheepishly, even allowing himself to smile a bit.

He really was easy to make relax, Eiji thought fondly. That certainly was one thing to like about Oishi. Plus, he was dependable and looking at him now, Eiji thought that he was kinda handsome and- Wait, no time for that right now, gotta act normal.

"You always think that." Eiji muttered, trying to redirect his thought process.

Oishi's face became concerned once more.

"That wasn't very energetic. Are you sure you're alright?" 

Oishi leaned in with purpose and felt Eiji's forehead.

Eiji squeaked and moved back a little at the sudden contact, certain that he was blushing now. 

Oishi didn't even notice. He straightened his posture again with a hand on his chin, staring at the ground in thought.

"You don't feel particularly warm or anything. Can I chalk that muttering up to fatigue as well?" Oishi looked at Eiji again, who had put a few centimeters distance between them.

Oishi's gaze went straight to Eiji's hand, currently clutching at his shirt collar. 

Oishi knew that was Eiji's nervous habit.

Eiji wanted to scoot away even further. Surely Oishi had noticed this time. It was all over for him, this was going to be awkward for sure.

Oishi frowned and said:

"Eiji, are you hiding some symptoms of sickness from me?"

Is this guy for real, Eiji thought. Isn't he supposed to like me? Where's his imagination when it comes to these things? 

Eiji took a deep breath, turned to face Oishi's serious expression and said:

"I'm definitely not hiding anything!"

Oishi looked unimpressed, "That sounds like denial if I ever heard it, Eiji."

"Look," Eiji was starting to get frustrated. Oishi really could be a single-minded guy, "I'm not sick, just tired!"

Oishi looked taken aback by Eiji's tone. Eiji felt incredibly guilty.

"Sorry." He stammered out, not sure what he was apologizing for as he averted his eyes from Oishi.

They sat on the bench in silence for another few moments. Eiji was now sure that he had screwed up. Oishi was mad at him when Eiji had just been planning to ask him out and even though they would make up quickly, the damage would be done. There was no going back now. His chance to get this over with quickly was gone for sure. Now Eiji would end up dwelling on his feelings and he'd be distracted during games and-

"Say," Oishi interrupted Eiji's rapid thoughts, "is something else bothering you?"

Eiji turned around to face Oishi again. "Huh?"

"I'm asking if you're thinking about something serious, and that's why you're acting strange." Oishi looked worried again, and Eiji bit his lip. He was completely trapped now. 

If he lied, Oishi would realize that he had and they might start fighting again. If he told the truth, it would be an incredibly lame confession.

Although lameness had never put Oishi off before.

Actually, Eiji realized, there wasn't that much to lose by telling the truth.

He studied Oishi for a moment. He studied the concern in Oishi's eyes, his furrowed eyebrows, his tightly-shut mouth, and even those weird strands of hair that always hung down in front of his face. 

Seeing all of that, Eiji felt sure he liked him enough to do this.

He gathered all his courage, impulse, and resolve. He looked at Oishi straight in the eyes.

"The truth is-" 

He faltered. Oishi's face didn't change a bit.

"The thing I was thinking about is-" 

Confessing was harder than Eiji thought it would be. 

"Oishi, I-" 

His heart was pounding so much he could hear it in his head. 

"I was... Thinking about..."

Oishi put a hand on Eiji's shoulder, smiling a little. 

Instantly, Eiji felt his fists unclench, his shoulders lower, and even his heartbeat quieted down.

Just a smile from Oishi did all that, Eiji thought in amazement.

"You don't have to tell me if it's too hard." Oishi reassured him. 

Even though he was concerned. Even though he obviously wanted to know. He always put Eiji first, and it made Eiji more sure than ever. He could do this. It would work out.

Eiji took a deep breath. He looked Oishi right in the eye again, as seriously as he could, and said:

"Oishi, I like you a lot!" 

He saw Oishi's eyes widen in surprise, and he had to look at his lap to finish.

"So, please go out with me."

After a few seconds of silence, he mustered the courage to look at Oishi's face again.

Oishi was blushing a deep red all the way to the tips of his ears.

"Y-you mean it?" he was almost whispering, he was in such a state of shock.

Eiji nodded once.

"You like me. In a romantic sense."

Eiji nodded again.

"You were out of sorts because..." Oishi leaned forward rapidly, face still bright red. "You were thinking of asking me out?!"

Oishi was leaning so close that Eiji had to look away again.

"Yeah!" Eiji was almost yelling, driven by nervousness and some kind of excitement at Oishi's reactions. "And I asked you, so tell me yes or no!"

"Of course the answer is yes!" Oishi really did yell, it would be funny if it weren't happening to Eiji right now.

"You mean it?!" Eiji looked at him again, the volume of his voice ever-increasing. "You'll definitely go out with me?!"

"Yes!" Oishi was so loud he could probably be heard back at the tennis courts.

The pair stared at each other for a moment, then both of them looked at the ground in embarrassment.

There was a moment of silence, while they digested what had just been said.

"We're..." Oishi swallowed nervously. "We're dating, then."

Eiji swallowed too, "Seems that way."

They both looked up at the same time, took in each other's blushing faces, and when their eyes met, both of them suddenly laughed.

It was a nervous laughter at first. Eiji almost looked away again, but after a moment of staring, something about how awkward it was became funny, and a genuine laugh came out of Eiji's mouth. Oishi followed shortly after, nervous chuckling becoming full-blown laughter.

Just as suddenly, they both stopped laughing. Something had finally clicked inside Eiji, and he was able to keep eye contact with Oishi this time.

They were able to stare in comfortable silence this time, matching grins on their faces.

"Well," Oishi finally spoke, averting his gaze from Eiji's face and looking up at the sky, "that certainly explains your behaviour."

Eiji elbowed him playfully as usual, "Come on, it was pretty obvious."

"Says the one who was trying to hide it." Oishi retorted, elbowing him back.

"Whatever, whatever." Eiji hopped off the bench. "Still means you're slow on the uptake, boyfriend!"

Oishi's blush intensified, "Please don't start using that instead of partner."

Eiji giggled, "I won't, I won't." at least not in public, he added in his mind. The blush was too cute to give up entirely.

He offered his hand to the still sitting Oishi. Oishi took it and stood up quickly.

For a moment, neither of them let go of the other's hand. It started up the blushing yet again, red was going to become the permanent colour of their faces at this rate, and after a few seconds Oishi pulled his hand back quickly.

"Well, since we're going back to practice that's no good, right?"

"Right." Eiji stuffed his own hands in his pockets.

Suddenly, Oishi started chuckling to himself. Eiji looked over curiously.

"Sorry," Oishi took a breath to stop laughing. "It's just that it's still morning practice, but I feel like the day is over. It's kind of a funny feeling."

Eiji groaned when he remembered the time, "You're right, we haven't even gone to classes yet."

"Much less afternoon practice."

Eiji sighed, and Oishi patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"I think I can get through it well enough, knowing my boyfriend is waiting for me." Oishi offered, smiling.

It was sappy and kind of awkward, as expected of Oishi, but Eiji was so happy hearing Oishi actually call him his boyfriend that it was impossible to tease him about it.

"It's the same for me!" Eiji said without thinking, and grinned in return.

Oishi averted his eyes, a light blush on his cheeks. Eiji realized that his reply had a lot of truth to it. 

They started walking back to practice, their footsteps naturally in sync, and simply smiled at each other the whole way there.


End file.
